India in control

28 July 2007

India's Sachin Tendulkar thanks the gods after reaching 11,000 Test runs on Saturday evening

Luckless England are facing the prospect of a heavy first-innings deficit in the second npower Test against India at Trent Bridge.

Fortunes have turned quickly against Michael Vaughan’s team, who could not force a 1-0 series lead in the gloom at Lord’s on Monday and now need a serious rearguard to save this match.

Earlier this week they were left to curse the bad weather which wrecked their chance of victory with India clinging on, nine wickets down.

Now they might be hoping for further heavy rain to reduce playing time in a match which India, who closed on 254 for three, have dominated.

India’s pace attack bowled skilfully in helpful conditions on Friday after Rahul Dravid won a very handy toss but their English counterparts could not force the early breakthroughs required to even up the contest.

The pitch was not as responsive as it had been at its freshest and the ball beat the outside edge on numerous occasions in the 16 overs possible before lunch.

Lancashire paceman James Anderson, in particular, bowled impressively but without reward and it was the kind of day on which Vaughan would have longed for the partnership-breaking ability of Anderson’s county colleague Andrew Flintoff.

All-rounder Flintoff begins his comeback from ankle surgery in Lancashire’s first-class fixture with Sri Lanka A on Sunday.

Having been dismissed for 198 in the opening session of the second day, England failed to part Indian openers Dinesh Karthik and Wasim Jaffer until shortly before tea.

The afternoon session was full of frustration for the hosts and left-arm spinner Monty Panesar was at the heart of the action as both batsmen survived confident lbw shouts.

His very first delivery from the pavilion end had Karthik in a muddle sweeping but umpire Ian Howell declined the appeal despite television replays highlighting the ball would have hit halfway up middle-stump.

Panesar’s angst then got the better of him in his next over as an animated appeal against Jaffer was rejected.

Two other narrow escapes preceded those two shouts: Karthik, on 29, drove just short of Anderson, positioned at short extra-cover to the medium pace of Paul Collingwood, and Jaffer survived, on 32, when a slice into the gully off Chris Tremlett eluded the grasp of the diving Ian Bell.

Karthik and Jaffer both celebrated second half-centuries of the series before being parted only 51 runs shy of the England total.

Tremlett’s ability to extract extra bounce accounted for Jaffer, a thin edge off the shoulder of the bat providing a straightforward dismissal for wicket-keeper Matt Prior, shortly before the second interval.

England seamer Chris Tremlett finally dismisses Wasim Jaffer

England made an encouraging start to the final session as well. Panesar removed Karthik with the very first ball as, operating over the wicket, he gained an inside edge which ballooned off the batsman’s pad to short leg.

But Dravid and Sachin Tendulkar ensured their side got into credit without further losses, the latter becoming only the third man in Test history to pass 11,000 runs after Brian Lara and Allan Border, in the process.

Some believe Tendulkar’s powers to be on the wane but he accelerated with precision timing from the moment he struck Panesar through the covers for four to reach the landmark.

That took him to 26 and half-a-dozen overs later he was saluting a 99-ball 50.

The third-wicket partnership was worth 97 and the light fading when Dravid was splendidly caught by the diving Bell at short cover with less than four overs to the new ball.

Bad light meant England will not get the chance to use it before the close, however.

Earlier it took the Indians three-quarters-of-an-hour to wrap up the England tail, after the home side resumed on 169 for seven.

They also struggled in Nottingham last summer when scores of 229 and 190 contributed to a series-levelling defeat to Sri Lanka.

England lost Tremlett in the fifth over of the second morning as ball continued to dominate bat.

Rahul Dravid deals with a wayward delivery

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Tremlett lived dangerously against wrist-spinner Anil Kumble, one googly somehow missing everything on its way through for four byes.

A similar delivery, however, accounted for the eighth wicket as the giant Tremlett groped forward and was bowled through the gate.

Fellow tail-ender Ryan Sidebottom looked more assured, driving boundaries through mid-on and extra-cover off Kumble, after taking 18 deliveries to get off the mark.

But he was left with just James Anderson for company after Panesar failed to make the most of a life.

Left-hander Panesar survived what looked a nailed-on leg before decision against Zaheer Khan before slicing to second slip off the same bowler.

Anderson perished when he attempted to late cut a delivery from Kumble from off the stumps and was bowled.